Sitting fat and sassy in fourth place in the East, the Raptors believed consecutive games against leaders Miami and Indiana would give a sense of where the team was at.

The verdict? Getting there, but still short of the true elite. Despite dealing with trying travel conditions that forced the team to arrive in town just five hours before tipoff, the Raptors hung around Tuesday against the NBA’s best, but never overly threatened a day after outplaying the defending-champion Heat in Miami until a brutal fourth quarter. In the end on Tuesday, Toronto whittled a 17-point Pacers lead down to six on a couple of occasions, before losing 86-79.

Indiana was still smarting from a Jan. 1 loss to the Raptors at the ACC. That made one of the league’s edgiest, most physical teams even more so on Tuesday and Toronto couldn’t always handle the uptick in intensity.

“We can have all the excuses in the world, but in a game like this you have to man up and bring it,” head coach Dwane Casey said.

“It’s a man’s league. I expected us to have a little bit of a hangover with the bullcrap with the travel ... I thought we put ourselves in a position to win, but now we’ve got to close the deal.”

After lauding Toronto’s improvement since dealing Rudy Gay, calling the team “legit,” Indiana head coach Frank Vogel made it clear what was on his squad’s mind pre-game.

“We’re thinking they beat us and beat us good the other day,” Vogel said.

So, the Pacers returned the favour, doing a number on all but DeMar DeRozan — who scored 17 straight points for Toronto in the third quarter — Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson, while demolishing the Raptors on the glass by a 53-36 rebounding margin. DeRozan finished with 28 points, Patterson added 20, Lowry 16, but just two assists.

Professional athletes are creatures of habit, but the Raptors had to deal with a monumental change to the game-day schedule, due to a major snowstorm in Indianapolis. Instead of flying in Sunday night following a loss in Miami, as is the norm, the Raptors stayed behind, then couldn’t get to town at all Monday and arrived in Indianapolis on Tuesday. The team checked in and out of its hotel in Florida three times and had to hustle around instead of getting in a morning shootaround.

While the players maintained they had gone through similar travails and know it’s part of the business, they also admitted something was awry.

“We missed some shots that we normally make," Lowry said. "I think it was our lowest assist total since the trade. The timing of everything was just a little off tonight.”

Added Amir Johnson, fighting unsuccessfully through a cold and the travel in his worst outing of the year: “We came out a little sluggish, had a couple of turnovers at the beginning. Shots weren’t falling for us and we got out-rebounded. There’s your ball game.”

Along with Johnson, fellow starter Jonas Valanciunas could get little going and Terrence Ross also couldn’t hit shots, but at least did a superb job on Pacers superstar Paul George, who had a second-straight bad outing against the Raptors, shooting just 4-for-12 for 11 points. Roy Hibbert was the difference with 22 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

That Toronto stayed in the contest was largely a testament to DeRozan. Players other than DeRozan or Lowry shot just 24% in the first half.

The Raptors dropped a game below .500 and to 10-5 since the trade and take on the Pistons at home after going 1-2 on this difficult trip. The schedule, while busy, gets far easier from here on out.

The team now sits a game behind Atlanta, but just half a game ahead of Washington for fifth in the East, three up on eighth-place Detroit.

As for where the team currently stands ...

“No matter who we play, we have no room for error," Casey said. "We’re not where we need to be and are gonna be.

“When guys miss assignments, miss easy shots, don’t bring the energy, miss reads on passes, we can’t withstand that. We haven’t arrived where this team is where Miami is, to play through that and live through it. We’ve got to be on point, on target, on execution offensively, defensively, and if we make those mistakes, a team like (the Pacers), a team like Miami makes you pay.”

The good news is Toronto barely has any more dates against powerhouses this regular season. One each against Indy, Miami, Oklahoma City and surprising Portland.

This wasn't the first time the Raptors have had travel woes. Aside from Tuesday, the team also got throttled by Atlanta three years ago after getting stuck in Indianapolis due to an ice storm. The next season, they fell to lowly Charlotte after a takeoff had to be aborted in Memphis.

East-leading Indiana gets revenge on travel-weary Raptors, who put up a good fight

Sitting fat and sassy in fourth place in the East, the Raptors believed consecutive games against leaders Miami and Indiana would give a sense of where the team was at.

The verdict? Getting there, but still short of the true elite. Despite dealing with trying travel conditions that forced the team to arrive in town just five hours before tipoff, the Raptors hung around Tuesday against the NBA’s best, but never overly threatened a day after outplaying the champs until a brutal fourth quarter. In the end on Tuesday, Toronto whittled a 17-point Pacers lead down to six on a couple of occasions, before losing 86-79.

Indiana was still smarting from a Jan. 1 loss to the Raptors, its only home defeat this season. That made one of the league’s edgiest, most physical teams even more so on Tuesday and Toronto couldn’t always handle the uptick in intensity.

“We can have all the excuses in the world, but in a game like this you have to man up and bring it,” head coach Dwane Cas

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A lot of people find fault with DeMar DeRozan’s shot selection. Greivis Vasquez is not one of them. Toronto’s backup point guard — inserted as starter Monday in place of Kyle Lowry — is a believer in going with what works and he thinks that the team’s record indicates DeRozan should stick to his guns.